


Mother's Day

by dwell



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Idk what to tag this as, jughead jones internal thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-06 05:25:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14635001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dwell/pseuds/dwell
Summary: Her eyes found mine, finally, and for a moment, the world kind of froze.





	Mother's Day

**May 13th, 10:50 A.M. ;**

The last time I'd talked to her, was when I called her desperately on the phone, just scared and alone and mostly upset.

I'd suggested, too hopeful I guess, me taking a bus out to Toledo, being with her and JB. JB for JellyBean, because lest we remind her of the fact she's actually still a kid, and not just stuck in some crazy world in which she's had to grow up faster than I would've liked.

I guess it just wasn't the right time, though, because my Mom put a foot down to the idea pretty quickly, as I'd known would happen. It was too perfect a solution, too great a happy ending, of course it wouldn't work out. I'm not being maudlin, so much realistic.

This is how families work, at least, any I've ever known.

"Now" is too soon, there would be a time in which it wasn't, though, don't worry, we can't wait for when it does. "Soon" wasn't long, more like hours, maybe days, not weeks or months, or never.

You learn pretty quickly as a kid, what the code words are adults use, and what they actually mean. It sounds dramatic, but really, it's just a right of passage.

 

 

When I became a Serpent, at first I was terrified. I questioned the decision, and even tried to weigh it in my mind. What was I even doing? I wasn't cut out for that life? They were different than me, they were rougher, tougher, meaner to the core than I could ever pretend to be.

But, I put on the jacket, I looked at all the open faces around me, and somehow, it just clicked. I was finally home, for what felt like the first time since my parents split. I was being taken in, there weren't any pretend "nows" or "soons," everything was already there for the taking, the offering.

I accepted.

  
Every time I stepped into the Whyte Wyrm, it was an immediate calm. It was a door shutting out the voices of the world outside, it was silencing the constant arguments and fights that had replayed in my mind since childhood. It was my chest unclenching, finally taking in that sweet breath and release for what felt the first time since I could remember.

I wasn't sure if this is what Home was supposed to feel like, but it was good enough for me and it was worth the ride over, worth the looks that other kids threw me in school. They didn't know, they didn't care, nor did I about their mundane lives, either.

One of the beautiful things about becoming a Serpent, was never having to worry about where you belonged anymore, and it was never needing to know if someone was going to be there to back you up, cheer you on, even when there wasn't a hope to be found.

I'd always assumed this was what a family did, what a family was to someone. I knew how odd it was to find it where I had, but it didn't matter, because I finally had it.

 

  
So, it wasn't even a second thought more just a long drawn out realization, a horrible plan, before sticking my neck out on the line for my adoptive family. It wasn't so much a regret more as a goodbye, figuring out a way to let it all go, and not wanting to.

 

  
I don't remember much, if I'm honest. It's so cliched, but I don't remember much past Cheryl's swooping in, thank God she'd answered her phone, and us trying to foolishly get one over on Penny. It'd gone so smoothly in my head, and nothing ever does.

How could I go wrong, with Cheryl's expertise, and even Toni as backup if need be? They were a winning combination, I couldn't lose.

 

Except, apparently I could. I had, in a moment of stupid bravery, when I probably should have just stayed put with the first battle won and the war still on, decided to go out on my own to meet her again.

One dance with the devil, was apparently not enough for Jughead Jones.

I had always counted my chickens before they hatched, had always thought I had a situation more calculated than it was.

I wasn't stupid, though, I was fighting for my new family, I was trying to prevent an all out war, a guaranteed massacre of all of our own making.

 

  
When I woke up, the world was.. clean, very clean, very bright. Was I in a padded cell? Were they rewarding my moment of bravery as an act of temporary insanity, instead?

That would be fitting.

I'd asked around for anyone. My Dad, any of my Serpents; Toni, Sweet Pea, though he wouldn't be caught dead actually hanging around showing any sign of care, unless it could be considered illegal loitering.

I didn't get to see who would finally answer, because the drugs were kicking in, and that was the first time I'd learned I was on them. 

It had made sense. No wonder it had looked like Veronica was putting flowers around my bed, and opening the curtains as if that would suddenly cure me..

 

 

**May 13th, 10:53 A.M. ;**

"Are you even trying to be stealth?"

One of the flower vases smashed to the floor, and I blinked slowly to the now shattered pieces. From Betty? From who?

Another mystery to solve later, probably when I got bored from daytime TV. So "soon."

I'd startled my visitor, it seemed, and Her eyes found mine, finally, and for a moment, the world kind of froze.

 

_**I** was back in our kitchen, chocolate chip batter balled up on the cookie sheet, ready to go in the oven, the entire room a mess, our faces covered from sneaking tastes of the dough raw._

_"Perfect! You're a natural. Look at how well you rolled those? Only a professional could do that. Maybe there's hope for you yet to be Mom's little chef."_

_As she went off into a tangent about retiring, letting me do all the cookie from that point forward, I remember just watching her. Her long hair currently resting atop her head in a messy bun, the rest falling in strands to frame her face._

_She was my entire world, the moon and the stars, and for that brief blink of time, there was nothing that could touch **us.**_

 

"Jughead?"

It was harder coming back this time around, because I wanted nothing more than to stay in the when, to know how the cookies turned out, even though I already knew. They'd been all different shapes and sizes, a few gooey from the lack of baking, but perfect. I'd never tasted another cookie as good as those ones ever again. I wondered if I would ever?

"Jughead."

The tone grew more insistent now, and I knew better than to not listen.

My answer came in the form of our eyes locking, at first offering nothing else. Not a word, not any indication of how awkward this shouldn't feel.

"Sweetie, I.."

But, after the feeling of her hand briefly brushing against my face was gone, opening my eyes clearer now, the anger rushed me like an ocean, threatening to pull me under.

"It took you long enough."

**Author's Note:**

> forgive me, Jughead, I'm still trying to delve into your psyche correctly.


End file.
